And Then There Was Equality

We are gathered in front of my childhood church. The sky is bright blue and the big Sun shines radiantly on us. The yellow building is freshly painted and red flower baskets adorn its corners. The stone-paved courtyard is bustling as people dressed in bright colors of blue, green, purple, and gold, pour in from every direction, looking like colorful rivers. Our two priests are welcoming them with big smiles and open arms.

I arrived early and have already received my warm hugs from them. I smile now, seeing our hosts so excited. The woman priest looks at me, her eyes twinkling. I look up above the church’s massive wooden door at the banner that reads: “Happy Equality Day!” My chest swells and it feels like something wants to fly out.

It’s time to enter the church and I let myself flow with the vibrant river through the wooden door into the cool air inside. The pews are decorated with colorful bows. I enter one and sit on the wooden bench. I look around. The church’s interior has changed much since my childhood so many decades ago. The main change is that there is no altar. Instead, there are two chairs and a small table, although they are rarely used. The priests instead prefer to stand and be close to the congregation.

The large crucifix that solemnly stood above the altar, from which Jesus cast his somber gaze upon the congregation has been moved to a separate room, where he is taken good care of and taken out on Good Friday to remember and commemorate his suffering. But the church is filled with art picturing Jesus and his companions dancing, laughing, holding hands, and giving thanks.

I smile again, remembering the many times I kneeled in front of the Jesus’s suffering face, wondering how come we celebrate his resurrection for one day only, and the rest of the year we are so fixated on his crucifixion. I even wondered, why we don’t have sculptures of a dancing Jesus. Now we do. And while we will never forget his cross, we have chosen to celebrate his life and resurrection year-round, and the love and hope that he brought us with them.

The first big changes started to happen soon after the success of the synod on synodality 2021-2024 process at which end the Vatican announced large structural transformation of its leadership. It also announced that for each big question concerning the Church going forward it will from now on ask the opinions from all people across all congregations.

In 2026, the big question asked from all people across all congregations was whether they would like to have women priests or not. When the votes came in they showed an overwhelming majority of people wanting to have women priests. The real kicker, however, was that the majority of priests supported this too. In fact, they wanted each congregation to benefit from having both a woman and a man priest.

Several years later, in the largest unified event across the Catholic congregations around the world, all women who had heard the call of God and walked the path to ordination were ordained. This day became known as the Equality Day and has been celebrated every year since then. It must be noted that many of these ordinations were performed by the women priests formerly ex-communicated because of their ordination but who now walked together with male priests and were looked to for support and wisdom.

Our woman priest was one of the women ordained on the first Equality Day. I remember her bright face and glorious smile, her blue mantel so vivid against her white dress. She looked both like someone touching the Heaven and having her feet planted firmly on the Earth. In fact, the Heaven she was touching was not some far away place. It was here on Earth, in her heart, and all of ours.

Today, as it is customary on Equality Day, our priests are ordaining a woman and a man priest. In my seat, I eagerly await to be a part of this beautiful ceremony. When the priests place their hands over the ordaining pair, the whole congregation opens to be a Divine conduit for blessing their path. As we do, the something that wanted to fly our of my heart earlier, surges forward like a dove of peace, joining the others soaring through the church.

After the ceremony, we all dance, laugh, hold hands, and give thanks. Our hearts glow and beautiful lights swirl around, within, and between us, carrying our love across time and space to all beings always.

Far fetched? Perhaps. But we must dream, and take action towards those dreams. And so I leave you now with this vision I painted and hope you will fill it with your own unique detail, making it stronger and stronger.

With this, my writer’s residency at WOC comes to an end. Thank you WOC for this opportunity to share my voice, stories, feelings, thoughts, and dreams. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you, dear readers, for reading and being part of this journey here with me. It was an honor and a delight.

With love, Branka